Time to watch more random wrestling
matches on youtube and let everybody know they can watch them for
free.
Colt Cabana vs Kikutaro
Aah, terrible handheld footage of
matches, you love to see it. Comedy matches require that the
wrestlers be good at wrestling. I think its something that is often
overlooked when comedy wrestling is denigrated. They have to be good
in the ring and great at making a connection with the fans. These two
are great at that. Cabana provides a lot of the technical wrestling
mixed in with the comedy bits, but Kikutaro excels at the comedy
stuff. Him failing to be good at British wrestling unlike Colt is
great.
6/10
This is just fun stuff. Colt does some
good wrestling and they both provide a lot of comedy and they get the
ref involved in a good way. I was going to say a fun way, but the ref
taking a kick to the junk probably wasn't that fun. The breakdown
into a Sumo match was fun and capped off by Cabana just dodging and
not participating in it. The finish was great. Cabana locks in a
standing Anaconda Vice and Kikutaro fights back to his feet and keeps
pumping the crowd up, then just taps out.
Nick Gage vs. G-Raver
They trick the viewers by starting off
with some simple mat wrestling, but Nick Gage gets bored of that
quickly and tells G-Raver get to the thumbtacks. A few small bumps on
the tacks then some brawling outside before returning to the ring.
Nick Gage hits a really nice Northern lights suplex onto the tacks
for a two count. G-Raver makes a comeback and hits a meteora. Then
puts Gage on the top and sets up a trashcan with a chair on top
covered in thumbtacks. He climbs up top and Gage fights back then
chokeslams him off onto the contraption. Gage puts thumbtacks in
Raver's mouth and hits a bootscrape then piledrives him on the tacks
for a two count. Gage follows that up with a piledriver, an elbow to
a mouth full of tacks, then a powerbomb on the tacks.
6/10
Thumbtack matches are one of my least
favorite versions of deathmatches since they're not that visually
impressive compared to going into barbed wire or going through
lighttubes. Still this match offers some good looking spots and both
men go at it pretty hard. The nice thing about this match is that
they build it up slowly before hitting the bigger moves. They don't
just go from huge spot to huge spot which can be a real flaw in a lot
of deathmatches.
Joe & Dean Malenko vs. Steve
Williams & Terry Gordy
Williams demonstrates his power by
lifting Joe into the air while he's got an armbar, but Joe flips him
back down into the armbar again to avoid the slam. Early on the story
is set as its the speed and technical prowess of the Malenko's
against he power of their opponents. We get a reversal of roles as
Dean and Steve go for a test of strength, but Steve jumps up and hits
an enziguri. Terry Gordy comes in and stomps Dean to break up a
submission and the crowd boos, but Dean holds on and Joe comes in and
stomps Steve to cheers, good stuff. There's some brawling outside the
ring we miss, but as we get to the end of the match there is a ton of
cheating from Gordy and Williams and the crowd is incensed. The
Malenko's keep trying for comebacks and have the crowd behind them.
Dean fucks up a top rope move and after some reversals Steve Williams
does a nice rollup to get the pinfall.
7/10
This match moves along pretty quickly
despite following the AJPW style of the beginning being a lot of
technical wrestling that doesn't mean a lot in the long run. It help
that this match has a nice heel vs face dynamic and the Malenko's are
super over for a foreign team. This isn't a super crazy match, but I
like how the Malenko's wrestle and I haven't really seen much of
Terry Gordy as a wrestler when he was in his prime. This match didn't
do much to impress me, but he did fine in it. I like that this is a
fan cam match, just to show newer fans what people used to sit
through to see matches from indies and Japan before all these
convenient streaming sites existed. This is actually pretty good
camera work from the person filming it. It's very steady, they can't
move around to get better angles and there is some time spent looking
at the back of the lady in front of them's head, but still pretty
good work. It's also cool to see that the smaller guys weren't just
being overpowered and had the control for a lot of the match if it
wasn't for the cheating from the other team. Don't be surprised to
see any of these four guys in future iterations of this. I might try
and skip Dean for a week or two at least.
Megumi Kudo vs. Shark Tsuchiya
I searched this because Megumi Kudo
created my favorite move in wrestling the Kudo Driver that I used as
my finisher as a backyard wrestler. Megumi comes out in full entrance
regalia for a barbed wire match so that's dope. And the way it's set
up is that two sides have barbed wire ropes and the other two sides
have no ropes, so this should be interesting. Kudo's rocking the one
long one short leg pants loook which is super cool on her. The
non-barbed wire sides have barbed wire boards on the floor so that
makes more sense and both women try to push the other off the edge
early in the match to no avail. Kudo hits the ropes first and its not
just barbed wire we also get an explosion and she's in trouble
already. Kudo takes a beating and starts to make a comeback only to
get pushed into the barbed wire again, this time face first. Now
Shark has a scythe and cuts her forehead open. This is not starting
well for our hero. Kudo revereses an attempted throw by Shark sending
her over the edge and into the barbed wire boards on the side with an
explosion. Kudo hits a beautiful high angle tiger driver for a two
count. Shark blocks a Kudo Driver and when Kudo goes for a
hurrincanranna she blocks it then powerbombs her to the outside onto
the barbed wire boards. Shark hits a series of nice high angle belly
to back suplexes the last of which literally folds Kudo in half, but
still only gets a two count. Shark hits some more big moves, but
can't get a finish. Kudo gets to her feet and Shark charges at her
and Kudo grabs her and hits a flatliner into the barbed wire and they
both fall over after the explosion and Kudo gets a three count.
8/10
I really liked this match. It does one
of the things that I emphasized earlier is key to a deathmatch and
that is a crazy bump has to mean something in the match. I would have
rated this higher, but I really didn't like the finish. Just felt
really flat. Everything building up to that was good though. I love
the bigger heel who is dominating with power and the face who won't
give up. There's some really slick wrestling throughout this match
and the postmatch stuff is great because they just play Kudo's theme
on repeat and it's got a banging guitar solo. Kudo's gear being all
white is nice because a lot of it gets singed by the explosions and
really helps sell the damage she took which she does a great job of
selling as well. It's a really good match and don't be scared by the
40 minute run time a decent amount of that is postmatch stuff, plus
both women get a full entrance. I feel like I'm underselling how good
Shark is as a powerhouse heel as well. She does a great job and I saw
other matches between the two so you'll definitely being seeing more
of both of these women in future blog posts.
Andre the Giant vs. David Nivens &
Angel Rivera
Nivens fails at several shoulder blocks
and tags Rivera in who puts in some fruitless headbutts before Andre
lifts him up and sets him on the top rope. Andre hits the biggest
atomic drop ever on Rivera, Nivens tags in and gets taken down by
Andre's strength in a handshake. He fails at a powerslam and Andre
hits him with a n atomic drop. Andre drops Nivens with a shoulder
tackle then grabs Rivera as he runs in with a press slam onto Nivens
then sits on Rivera's back for the three count.
3/10
It's just a squash match, but its a fun
one to watch. It's basically a comedy match and the crowd loves Andre
hilariously squashing these two dudes and its fun to watch. Nivens
has a very tragic hair cut, that doesn't matter, but it has to be
said. I love the look of the smaller promotions studio show with a
small audience and the interviews being done at ringside right after
the match.
Dusty Rhodes vs. Bruiser Brody (2/3
Falls) (Don't Watch This Match! Or at least don't watch it thinking
it will be good.)
Brody keeps powdering to the outside to
avoid Dusty's jabs. Lots of taunting from Dusty and the crowd loves
it. Dusty hits the bionic elbow early and Brody stumbles around to
the outside. This ring is as unstable as fly by night indy ring.
Dusty whips Brody into the corner and the whole thing shakes. Brody
stomps Dusty in the face three times then hits the knee drop to get
the first pinfall, and the ref does the least enthusiastic count I've
ever seen. He's barely tapping the mat. Dusty crawls under the mat to
trick Brody and takes him to the outside then hits back elbow then an
elbow drop for a three count. They brawl back and forth, Brody gets
the advantage and does the Huss chant and taunt. Dusty hits a good
looking dropkick. Brody knocks Dusty down with some high boots to the
midsection. Dusty starts to fight back with punches and both men are
down against the ropes. Dusty is punching Brody and Brody lifts him
up and over the ropes and gets disqualified so Dusty wins. After the
match Brody ties Dusty up in the ropes and keeps beating him up.
Dusty escapes and fights back and Brody goes outside and heads to the
back.
1/10
This match fucking sucks. This was just
a bunch of punches and shitty kicks and man did I hate it. I thought
about taking it out of here, but I watched it so I might as well talk
about it and one thing about watching the older wrestling is
appreciating the better stuff we have now. I know Dusty has had good
matches because I've watched them and I've heard good things about
Brody so how boring this was surprised me. The crowd loved it though,
but I don't get it.
Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody
This match already has more wrestling
than the last one as Brody hits a powerslam then locks in a
submission after some brawling. They're on the outside and Brody
grabs a chair and hits Funk in the side of the head with it. Funk is
bleeding from the side of his head or maybe his ear already. Brody
lifts Funk up for a piledriver and Funk fights it by waving his legs,
but Brody doesn't care and drops him headfirst to the mat. Funk is in
trouble and grabs a side headlock and hits a back kick to the dick of
Brody that sends him to the outside. Funk lifts up a table and slams
it onto Brody's back. Brody is bused open now from being run face
first into the ring post. Funk grabs a side headlock and gets a belly
to back suplex for his trouble. Funk fights Brody down from the top
rope then hits him with a bunch of punches before locking in the step
over toe hold that Brody eventually kicks him out of. Funk fights
back with headbutts and they go to the outside where Brody throws a
table onto Funk's head. Each Man's tag team partner comes in to help
and the match gets thrown out. Brody and Hansen beat up Funk some
more, but Dory comes in and delivers some terrible chair shots to
even things up and then a bunch of chairs are being thrown around
before another wrestler comes down to clear them out of the ring, but
they're just brawling around the arena grabbing chairs and hitting
each other.
7/10
If it wasn't for the DQ finish this
would have gotten a better rating. This is the fun kind of brawl you
would expect from these two names. A really solid match between the
two men and a lot of fun brawling on the outside. This is the Bruiser
Brody I've been told about and it's the classic Terry Funk I've
always known, just younger. Love Japan's general disregard for
foreign objects when they aren't used in the ring. I think it's a
good philosophy more places should adopt.
Jake
Atlas vs. Priscilla Kelly
The
two avoid each others moves for a bit, then Kelly uses the speed
advantage with some lucha armdrags to get the advantage before Atlas
connects with a big lariat to take control. Atlas keeps trying to use
his strength advantage and gets cocky and taunts only for Kelly to
fire up and start chopping and kicking him. A back and forth on the
arpon lets Kelly hit an STO then get a nearfall then hit a big slam
after missing in the first time. Atlas hits a huge Yakuza kick, then
goes for a move that's countered by a reverse 'rana. Atlas escapes a
Panama sunrise then makes a comeback. Kelly kicks out of the
cartwheel ddt, but an elevated double arm DDT puts her down for the
count.
7/10
A
really fun match from these two, with a lot of cool looking spots and
some nice hard hitting action. I haven't watched a ton of Atlas
matches, but he might be one of the best at taking a reverse 'rana in
the business. Kelly more than holds her own in the match as well and
throws out a lot of high flying stuff as well as delivering some nice
strikes. Sad I didn't pay attention to Atlas before he signed with
WWE, but at least Kelly is still around doing cool stuff on the
indies.
Jake
Atlas vs. Jungle Boy
https://youtu.be/fu9LPxvDZRw
Tons
of counters and roll up attempts to start the match. Jungle Boy gets
the advantage when Atlas catches a hurrincanranna from him, but
Jungle Boy goes over the top with a code red. They go to the outside
and Jungle Boy hits a suicide dive. They go back in and Atlas gets
control of the match and hits a german suplex on the apron before
going back inside the ring. Lots of fast paced, back and forth
action. Jungle Boy tries to go up top, but Atlas hits stops him and
hits a brutal back rake. Atlas hits a burning hammer and only gets a
two count. Atlas hits the cartwheel DDT, but Jungle Boy rolls through
and hooks Atlas's legs for the three count.
8/10
Not
quite as intense as their PWG matchup, but damn good anyway. These
two are going full speed the whole match and hit everything crisply.
A great indie sendoff for both of these guys before going to WWE and
AEW.
Genchiro
Tenyru vs. Bruiser Brody
https://youtu.be/ffYcnumm32A
Slow
pace to start the match as both men are looking for the one strike or
opening that gives them the advantage. Tenyru seems to find it first
with an enziguri, but Brody gets up backs him against the ropes and
chops the fuck out of him. It's a Bruiser Brody match so they go to
the floor and he starts to cheat a bit and slams Tenyru's head on a
table then smacks him over the back with a monitor. Back in the ring
and he hits a nice stalling vertical suplex. Tenyru gets the
advantage and starts to focus on the leg with submissions and kicks
to slow Brody down. After Brody takes him down with a dropkick Tenyru
tries to fight up and from his knees just starts throwing chops on
the injured knee of Brody. Love little things like this. They go
outside again, this time it's Tenyru's idea and he attacks the knee
with the ringbell and wraps it up in the guardrail as well. Brody
counters a piledriver by rotating further over and landing on
Tenyru's chest. Brody makes a comeback and hits a big diving knee off
the top, but rolls out of the ring because he aggravated his injured
leg. Tenyru follows him outside and goes for a piledriver or a
powerbomb that looks terrible and both men are down outside and get
counted out.
7/10
Damn
AJPW matches not having a winner. A classic AJPW style match. Lots of
back and forth basic wrestling to start the match a couple of big
moves and when somebody gets the advantage they target a body part
and start going for submissions. It's definitely not a style for
everybody, but when its done well it's very good. This is mostly a
display for Tenyru with Brody getting worked over for most of the
match, but both men play their roles well in this match. The
non-finish is a bummer, but probably would have worked a bit better
if Tenyru had at least hit the move he wanted out there right.
